Marianne and Allan will kick off this year's Winter Warmer Festival in St Andrews, New Brunswick, a small festival meant to help participants feel cozy in the midst of winter. It combines great music in intimate settings, often with the option of sampling a taste of something warm and delicious and a beverage or two. Performing as part of the festival will be Fraser & Girard, Lennie Gallant, JP Cormier, Laura Smith, Andrea Ramolo, The Lifers with Maggie Savoie, Abby Pond, Ewan McIntyre, Debbie Adshade, the Saint John String Quartet and poet, Tom Sexton. Visit http://www.winterwarmerfestival.ca/ for the full schedule and tickets. Fraser & Girard's concert takes place Friday, February 1 at 5:30 pm, upstairs at Honeybeans.

We've played at the local art gallery, Sunbury Shores, Kingsbrae Garden and at guest home, Salty Towers. We met two outstanding musical artists, Owen Steel and Ryan LeBlanc and attended several musical performances since arriving here last May (2018).

We are back in beautiful St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada for the summer. We're looking forward to friends, old and new, the fresh seafood omg, spectacular healthy air, and more and more music. We're now starting to consider new recording options; how, where, with whom. The songs keep percolating around and around and it's time to get them down.

We had another spectacular 3 months of Umbrian countryside and cuisine and have several new songs from our experience. Our new album concept is continuing to percolate and we hope to pursue the recording project in the coming year. We also recorded a Beatle cover, 'Don't Let Me Down', at G-Recording Studio in Fabro, which was great fun. It should be up on youtube when Gianni finishes mixing it.

I'm learning to almost master some favourite Italian, particularly Umbrian, dishes: Baccala (salt cod) with raisins and pine nuts, spaghetti with lupini (baby clams in shells) and eggplant parmigiano. I'm hoping to manage Parmigiana di Cardi, which is thistle baked with parmesan. OMG, so yum. Now to find the right thistles in Ontario. OUCH!

We are now back to the February of southern Ontario. We've already had several walks when the falling snow was fluffy and no wind. That's when winter is beautiful.

Our most current project here at home is to begin creating new and interesting videos for our songs. Making it fun!

The first will be Picov Downs. Because we're doing this ourselves, who knows how long it will take.

Three months have passed. Allan has been in Halifax NS, and I have just returned from Melbourne AU and the birth of my first grandchild; baby boy Arlo Francis McCaw Girard-King, born July 8, 8 1/2 lbs.

We are in beautiful St. Andrews by-the-sea, in New Brunswick, as artists-in-residence at Saltý Towers, for the fabulous month of September.

We're enjoying catching up after three months, finishing new songs in the works, and being part of this vibrant and supportive community.. The new songs are taking shape, we're breathing the good air, eating haddock, and meeting the locals through our hosts Jamie and Deb.

In August 2016, bulldozers appeared on our street in Orangeville and began months of destruction, chaos and dust. Wanting a better view, Marianne and I went to visit a friend in Italy... and stayed. Looking out over the hills of Umbria, we found renewed inspiration and continued to deepen our artistic work. We recorded several songs in a local studio while enjoying the wine and cuisine of the region. In December, we flew to Mexico to spend Christmas in the sun... and stayed. With the new camaraderie of local musicians, our inspiration continued. We returned to Ontario for tour dates in May. We'll spend the summer separately with family, Marianne in Melbourne, Australia and Allan, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In September, we reunite in St Andrews-By-The Sea, New Brunswick for a month-long artists' residency at Salty Towers.

We're enjoying immensely our time here in Italy. We're recording new material at Studio G here in Fabro, and finding new rest and inspiration for writing. It would suit us fine to stay here and continue writing for years to come. That's the anchor in our lives, nurturing creativity and making art.in November we go to Freiburg, Germany and then on to UK. Stay tuned for more adventures

Fraser & Girard Join Forces, Create Magic

Musicians Allan Fraser and Marianne Girard had been crossing paths for more than thirty years. One evening in August 2013, over tea, they met again under a Japanese maple tree on College Street in Toronto and the two well established and highly regarded Canadian singer/songwriters joined heads, hearts and their two lifetimes of music.

"This new collaboration, Fraser & Girard, shows all the magic that can occur when two gifted singer/songwriters join forces. Both have great songs. Both have everything it takes to completely satisfy an audience on their own. Together, they offer an abundance of riches. The resulting musical chemistry unfolds in spontaneous and unpredictable ways, creating one moment after another of unexpected grace and joy." — David Hines, Toronto

With great pleasure, we present this exciting, new collaboration, Fraser & Girard.

"When the voices and the talents match up, the results are spectacular"